


Campfire

by MeansToOffend (goodmorning)



Series: Pick Me Up [18]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2017-2018 NHL Season, M/M, Minnesota Wild, Pick-Up Lines, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 22:02:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14411475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorning/pseuds/MeansToOffend
Summary: "It only makes sense that Jared and Tyler are inseparable even in their imagined futures, with a dream they pretend is reality every winter when the pond finally freezes over."





	Campfire

They grow up together, running through the Edmonton suburbs like every other kid their age, loud and free and naive, full of big impossible dreams, all astronauts and pop stars and spies. It only makes sense that Jared and Tyler are inseparable even in their imagined futures, with a dream they pretend is reality every winter when the pond finally freezes over.

It’s fun when there are enough people around to play pickup games, but it’s best when it’s just the two of them, when Jared can hear Tyler’s high, piping voice calling their play-by-play with the ice crisp and bright, torn up beneath their feet but still good enough for this. 

“And it’s Ennis, all alone, racing up the ice! Ennis, drop pass for Spurgeon, back to Ennis, to Spurgeon, to Ennis again, he shoots he scores! Tyler Ennis! And the Oilers are through to the second round!”

Tyler’s quiet around people sometimes, but he never stops talking when they’re alone, not even when Jared tackles him to the ice, an imitation of the celebratory pile that comes with every game-winning goal.

\--

As they grow up, of course, they start finding out all the reasons they can’t actually achieve their dream. For one thing, making the NHL at all is so unlikely in and of itself that it makes Jared want to stop thinking about it, to never put on a pair of skates again, to move someplace where it doesn’t snow and never even look at ice again. And that’s _before_ all the complicating factors come into it, every single one designed to make it even harder.

The obvious one is that even if both of them do get drafted, it’s not likely to be by the same team, and it’s also probably not going to be the Oilers, and that’s kind of daunting, the idea that he’d be in a place he doesn’t know, without the familiarity of Tyler by his side.

Another roadblock, the biggest to actually making the NHL even if they do get drafted, is their size. They’re at the age now where they should be hitting growth spurts, but neither of them has tall parents, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be particularly big either. They’ve both been cut from travel teams because of their height, sight unseen, and that’s bullshit, but Jared’s not really under the illusion now that the NHL will be any better about it. And it’s one thing for Tyler, because Martin St. Louis is tearing it up in Tampa right now, all five-foot-eight of him, but it’s another thing for Jared, because defensemen under six feet tall are practically nonexistent, and he really doesn’t think he’s going to get there.

And after all of that, there’s still one more thing Jared has to contend with - he’s gay. Maybe he’s a little behind the curve when it comes to figuring out his sexuality, when everyone else on his teams is talking nonstop about the girls they’re dating or wish they were dating, but Jared just figures he’s more focused on hockey than they are. This lasts right up until he finds himself jerking off in the shower, imagining his fingers tangling through blond curls, and _fuck._ It’s definitely not bros to think about your best friend on his knees for you, not when you’re alone, when you could think about anyone else instead.

Jared can ignore the shit he hears on the ice, because their opponents don’t actually know anything about him and he’s not about to let it slip. But hearing it in the room is a little harder, not knowing who just uses the words because everyone else does and who really _means them._ It’s not a nice feeling, not being able to say anything to anyone. Sometimes he wonders if it would be better in NHL locker rooms.

He really doesn’t think it would.

_How long will he feel this way? Does he have to lose hockey to lose this roiling ache in his gut? Or, one day, will it go away on its own?_

\--

Tyler is drafted in the first round, and nobody cheers harder than Jared does. Jared is quietly drafted in the fifth, and nobody but his parents cheers at all.

The Islanders don’t bother to sign him, so Jared keeps his head down, works hard in Juniors, and tries not to think about a future without hockey, tries to feel happy for Tyler when he plays his first NHL game.

Then the Wild call and there’s a contract and Jared _signs_.

He expects to spend a few years in the AHL, that he’ll have to keep working hard and prove himself to them, but two months into the season they call him up and there he is, debuting at 21 like pretty much every other high-end defense prospect, like his height doesn’t make a single iota of difference to anyone or anything. He plays fifteen minutes and doesn’t fuck anything up, and his parents make the drive up to Calgary to see him do it, and Tyler calls him afterwards, full of speechless excitement.

It’s the best birthday Jared’s ever had, and he’s pretty sure nothing else could come close.

\--

He still comes home every summer like normal, sees the family, rests up for a couple weeks, then starts training again. And he still trains with Tyler, just like when they were kids, still laughing when one of them fucks something up, still having fun no matter how hard he pushes himself, no matter how hard they push each other. Mostly it’s long days in the gym, weights and cardio, but every so often they reward themselves with some ice time.

“Oh, a bad turnover by Spurgeon at the line and Ennis is in all alone! Ennis, on Backstrom, _shoots_ \- oh, off the post!” Tyler says, laughing when Jared catches up to him, gently hip-checking Tyler into the boards before falling on top of him. 

He finds himself staring, watching Tyler catch his breath, and he’s still smiling just as wide but Jared thinks he can see the feeling behind it ebbing away. He scrambles up off Tyler and offers him a hand.

They don’t talk about it, and Jared doesn’t feel like it made things awkward, but sometimes, back in Minnesota, he wakes up thinking about it.

\--

In the summer of 2012, Tyler comes home like always, but his hair is longer than Jared’s seen it since they were fifteen, and he’s grinning all the time like he’s won a prize or something. It takes less than two days for Jared to crack and ask him about it.

“Oh, uh,” Tyler says. “Was I that obvious?”

“Just answer the question, asshole,” Jared says, grinning. 

Tyler just looks thoughtful. “I’m dating someone,” he says, finally.

He’s being unusually reticent, and Jared can’t help but pry more. “Who? Since when? How did you meet?”

“Since December,” Tyler says, and stops. “We met- it was a while ago- fuck.” He sighs. “Okay, we’re teammates, it’s Gerbs, please don’t be weird about it.”

“I’m happy for you, man,” Jared makes himself say. “Why would I be weird about it?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Tyler says, and changes the subject. Jared lets him.

\--

They’re getting ready to part ways for another season, until they’re not. The lockout happens, and suddenly they’re flying to Switzerland instead, to play for the Tigers together, just like the old days.

Tyler’s hair has grown out even more over the summer, from long to a great golden mane, and even as Jared jokes that they should have signed with the Lions instead, he’s thinking about touching it. He wants to run his fingers through it, wonders if Tyler likes it pulled, if Gerbe-

But Gerbe isn’t coming with them. It’s just Jared and Tyler. They get an apartment together, and dismally fail at learning Swiss German, and as much as Jared loves it, he’s driving himself crazy spending all this time with Tyler, with too many feelings shouting unrequited in his chest. He’s almost glad, when the lockout ends, to get away from it all.

\--

In the summer of 2013, Tyler comes home like normal, but his hair is cut shorter than Jared’s ever seen it, shorn so close there’s no trace of a curl, and he looks resigned, like he lost a game he expected to lose. Jared doesn’t even have to ask him about it for Tyler to say, “I got dumped.”

He shrugs, and smiles, and the smile looks real enough that Jared’s not worried. “Sorry to hear that,” he says. Tyler just shrugs again, and they throw themselves into their summer routines with a vengeance.

\--

This is how it goes, year after year, until the summer of 2017 comes and shatters normal to pieces.

The two of them are panting, slumped against the gym wall, when Tyler’s phone rings. It’s his agent, and Jared stands there biting his lip, holding his breath, hoping Tyler’s coming somewhere in the division or at least the conference, where they can see each other more than twice a season.

“Thanks,” Tyler says, hanging up, a massive grin slowly spreading over his face like the summer dawn. Jared can’t move, can’t think, doesn’t even dare to hope until the words come crashing out of Tyler’s mouth. “I’m coming to Minnesota,” he says, then repeats it, shouting, and the two of them run around like idiots for a while, laughing and whooping until they tire themselves out.

“Oh my god, this is going to be awesome,” Tyler says as Jared pulls him into a hug, and then somehow they’re kissing, and Jared could die right now, really, except that he really wants to play on the same NHL team as Tyler first.

“Whoops, sorry,” says Tyler, blushing and trying to disentangle himself. 

Jared finds himself clinging to Tyler reflexively, not ready to let him go. “No, wait,” he says, and Tyler stills. “Uh, are you a campfire?” he tries, kicking himself internally when Tyler looks confused.

He brings a hand up to his face. “Why, because I’m so red?”

“No,” says Jared, breathing in deep, “because you’re hot and I want ‘Smore.” And Tyler blushes harder and kisses him again.

Of course, after that, their workout is pretty much a wash, but Jared really can’t bring himself to care.

\--

It’s the home opener, and they’re on the power play, Suts and Jared on the blue line, Koivs, Zucks, and Tyler up front, and it’s all too easy for Jared to thread a perfect pass right through the slot, right to Tyler who doesn’t miss it, shoots and scores for his first in Minnesota green.

(“Suter… to Spurgeon… back for Ennis, a shot _he scores!_ Alberta buddies combine for a goal, first as a Wild for Tyler Ennis!”)

One of the best things about being on the other side of the ice, besides that it made Bobrovsky stretch a little too far, is that he can watch every second of the puck going from Tyler’s stick to the Columbus net, and it’s a beautiful goal. Actually, it’s maybe too beautiful, because it kind of freezes him in a mess of feelings, excitement and pride and all the rest, and the worst thing about Jared being on the other side of the ice is that when Tyler drifts over to the boards, it’s Zucks that reaches him first, then Suts, then Koivs, all patting him on the head, giddy at re-taking the lead.

But when Jared finally makes it over to him, the pile loosens, like they know, and Tyler skates free, hugging Jared as tight as he can, so tight that his feelings burst free. “God, I love you,” he shouts over the roar of the crowd. Koivs chuckles a little from somewhere nearby, but Jared ignores him.

“I love you, too,” Tyler says, right in his ear, and goes to receive his congratulations with a smile, soft and fond, with Jared following after.

**Author's Note:**

> \- First off: this story is at least 50% true and I'm not sorry. For one thing, there are SO MANY STORIES about their childhood friendship floating around.  
> \- Much too perfect for fiction: [They really did get the call when they were working out together](http://www.twincities.com/2017/07/20/trade-helps-best-friends-jared-spurgeon-and-tyler-ennis-join-forces-with-wild/) _help_  
>  \- (I didn't even know that was true until after I had already written it!)  
> \- [Here is the video of the goal in the last section, from which I stole the commentary.](http://www.nhl.com/video/ennis-fires-home-ppg/t-290865338/c-53499303) I'll say it again: this story is barely fiction, thanks Wild.  
> \- They say you cut your hair after big life changes, and the haircut also really happened.  
> \- Bonus from the commentary on the goal video: "We talked a little bit about how long that stick is for Ennis, watch how he uses it here."


End file.
